THE STORY OF THE LASHES

Note.—It had been prophesied, by a pretended enchanter, that the Lady Dulcinea del Toboso could be freed from the enchantment under which a wicked magician had placed her, if Sancho would of his own free will give himself three thousand three hundred lashes.

Sancho went along anything but cheerful, and finally he said to his master, “Surely, señor, I’m the most unlucky doctor in the world; there’s many a physician that, after killing the sick man he had to cure, requires to be paid for his work, though it is only signing a bit of a list of medicines, that the apothecary and not he makes up, and, there, his labor is over; but with me, though to cure somebody else costs me drops of blood, smacks, pinches, pin-proddings, and whippings, nobody gives me a farthing.”

“Thou art right, Sancho, my friend,” said Don Quixote, “and I can say for myself that if thou wouldst have payment for the lashes on account of the disenchantment of Dulcinea, I would have given it to thee freely ere this. I am not sure, however, whether payment will comport with the cure, and I would not have the reward interfere with the medicine. Still, I think there will be nothing lost by trying it; consider how much thou wouldst have, Sancho, and whip thyself at once, and pay thyself down with thine own hand, as thou hast money of mine.”

At this proposal Sancho opened his eyes and his ears a palm’s breadth wide, and in his heart very readily acquiesced in whipping himself, and said he to his master, “Very well then, señor, I’ll hold myself in readiness to gratify your worship’s wishes if I’m to profit by it; for the love of my wife and children forces me to seem grasping. Let your worship say how much you will pay me for each lash I give myself.”

“If, Sancho,” replied Don Quixote, “I were to requite thee as the importance and nature of the cure deserves, the treasures of Venice, the mines of Potosi, would be insufficient to pay thee. See what thou hast of mine, and put a price on each lash.”

“Of them,” said Sancho, “there are three thousand three hundred and odd; of these I have given myself five, the rest remain; let the five go for the odd ones, and let us take the three thousand three hundred, which at a quarter real apiece (for I will not take less though the whole world should bid) make three thousand three hundred quarter reals; the three thousand are one thousand five hundred half reals, which make seven hundred and fifty reals; and the three hundred make a hundred and fifty half reals, which come to seventy-five reals, which added to the seven hundred and fifty make eight hundred and twenty-five reals in all. These I will stop out of what I have belonging to your worship, and I’ll return home rich and content, though well whipped.”

“O blessed Sancho! O dear Sancho!” said Don Quixote; “how we shall be bound to serve thee, Dulcinea and I, all the days of our lives that Heaven may grant us! If she returns to her lost shape (and it cannot be but that she will) her misfortune will have been good fortune, and my defeat a most happy triumph. But look here, Sancho; when wilt thou begin the scourging? For if thou wilt make short work of it, I will give a hundred reals over and above.”

“When?” said Sancho; “this night without fail. Let your worship order it so that we pass it out of doors and in the open air, and I’ll scarify myself.”

Night, longed for by Don Quixote with the greatest anxiety in the world, came at last. They made their way at length in among some pleasant trees that stood a little distance from the road, and there vacating Rocinante’s saddle and Dapple’s pack-saddle, they stretched themselves on the green grass and made their supper off Sancho’s stores, and he, making a powerful and flexible whip out of Dapple’s halter and headstall, retreated about twenty paces from his master among some beech trees. Don Quixote, seeing him march off with such resolution and spirit, said to him, “Take care, my friend, not to cut thyself to pieces; allow the lashes to wait for one another, and do not be in so great a hurry as to run thyself out of breath midway; I mean, do not lay on so strenuously as to make thy life fail thee before thou hast reached the desired number; and that thou mayest not lose by a card too much or too little, I will station myself apart and count on my rosary here the lashes thou givest thyself. May heaven help thee as thy good intention deserves.”

“‘Pledges don’t distress a good paymaster,’” said Sancho; “I mean to lay on in such a way as without killing myself to hurt myself, for in that, no doubt, lies the essence of this miracle.”

He then stripped himself from the waist upwards, and snatching up the rope he began to lay on and Don Quixote to count the lashes. He might have given himself six or eight when he began to think the joke no trifle, and its price very low; and holding his hand for a moment, he told his master that he cried off on the score of a blind bargain, for each of those lashes ought to be paid for at the rate of half a real instead of a quarter.

“Go on, Sancho, my friend, and be not disheartened,” said Don Quixote; “for I double the stakes as to price.”

“In that case,” said Sancho, “in God’s hand be it, and let it rain lashes.” But the rogue no longer laid them on his shoulders, but laid on to the trees, with such groans every now and then, that one would have thought at each of them his soul was being plucked up by the roots. Don Quixote, touched to the heart, and fearing he might make an end of himself, and that through Sancho’s imprudence he might miss his own object, said to him, “As thou livest, my friend, let the matter rest where it is, for the remedy seems to me a very rough one, and it will be well to have patience; Rome was not built in a day. If I have not reckoned wrong thou hast given thyself over a thousand lashes; that is enough for the present.”

“No, no, señor,” replied Sancho; “it shall never be said of me, ‘The money paid, the arms broken’; go back a little further, your worship, and let me give myself at any rate a thousand lashes more; for in a couple of bouts like this we shall have finished off the lot, with even cloth to spare.”

“As thou art in such a willing mood,” said Don Quixote, “may heaven aid thee; lay on and I’ll retire.”

Sancho returned to his task with so much resolution that he soon had the bark stripped off several trees, such was the severity with which he whipped himself; and one time, raising his voice, and giving a beech a tremendous lash, he cried out, “Here dies Samson, and all with him!”

At the sound of his piteous cry and of the stroke of the cruel lash, Don Quixote ran to him at once, and seizing the twisted halter, said to him:

“Heaven forbid, Sancho my friend, that to please me thou shouldst lose thy life, which is needed for the support of thy wife and children; let Dulcinea wait for a better opportunity, and I will have patience until thou hast gained fresh strength so as to finish off this business to the satisfaction of everybody.”

“As your worship will have it so, señor,” said Sancho, “so be it; but throw your cloak over my shoulders, for I’m sweating and I don’t want to take cold; it’s a risk that novice disciplinants run.”

Don Quixote obeyed, and stripping himself covered Sancho, who slept until the sun woke him; they then resumed their journey, which for the time being they brought to an end at a village that lay three leagues farther on.

[433-1] The olla is the national dish of Spain, and is a stew composed of beef, bacon, sausage, chick-peas and cabbage, with any other meat or vegetables which may be on hand.

[434-2] A morion is a helmet without visor or beaver for protecting the face.

[435-3] Alexander the Great was so fond of his horse Bucephalus that when it died in India during Alexander’s sojourn there, he founded a city which he called Bucephalia, in honor of the steed.

[435-4] The Cid was the greatest of Spanish heroes.

[436-5] Rocin is, in Spanish, a horse used for labor, as distinguished from one kept for pleasure or for personal use; ante means before. Thus the name Rocinante meant that the horse had formerly been a hack, or work horse.

[436-6] Amadis de Gaul was the hero of one of the most celebrated romances of chivalry.

[438-1] When Don Quixote first set out on his quest of adventures, he was unattended. Having been forced, however, to return to his native town, he persuaded a peasant, Sancho Panza by name, to go with him and serve as his squire. While Sancho was a hard-headed, practical man, he was carried away by Don Quixote’s promises of reward, and in time, through listening constantly to the Don’s conversation, he became almost as mad as his master.

[440-2] Briareus was a famous giant of ancient mythology, who had fifty heads and one hundred arms.

[440-3] By sage is here meant an enchanter or magician.

[441-1] Don Quixote and Sancho had remained in terror through an entire night, fancying from the noise they heard that they were near some terrible danger. In the morning they found that this noise proceeded from some fulling mills in the neighborhood.

[442-2] Mambrino was a Moorish king, mentioned in some of the romantic poems which Don Quixote is intended to burlesque. He possessed an enchanted golden helmet which rendered the wearer invulnerable, and which was naturally much sought after by all the knights. Rinaldo finally obtained possession of it. Don Quixote, whose helmet had been destroyed, had sworn that he would lead a life of particular hardship until he had made himself master of the wonderful helmet.

[445-3] The piece of eight is equal to about one dollar of American money. The maravedi is a small copper coin, of the value of three mills in American money.

[446-4] The god of smithies was the old Greek and Roman god Hephæstus, or Vulcan; the god of battles was Mars.

[446-5] Martino is a blunder of Sancho’s for Mambrino.

[448-1] This was a gentlemanly person whom Don Quixote had met on the road a short time before.

[462-1] In certain rivers of Spain, floating mills, moored in mid-stream, were common.

[467-1] This was the wicked enchanter who had caused the beards to grow.

[468-2] This was the leader of the sorrowful bearded ladies.

[468-3] The duke had promised to bestow on Sancho the government of an island.

[469-4] The name of the “Distressed One.”

[472-5] This was Phaëton, whose story is told in Volume II.

[476-6] Don Quixote and Sancho Panza had been persuaded that Dulcinea del Toboso, Don Quixote’s lady, was under enchantment, from which she could not be released until Sancho had given himself three thousand three hundred lashes.

[478-7] The “seven she-goats” were the Pleiades.

PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES

Note.—The pronunciation of difficult words is indicated by respelling them phonetically. N is used to indicate the French nasal sound; K, the sound of ch in German; ü, the sound of the German ü, and French u; ö, the sound of ö in foreign languages.

Transcriber’s Note

The following typographical errors have been corrected.

PageError
[24]Muleteeer changed to Muleteer
[102]Neverthelesss changed to Nevertheless
[107]hugh changed to huge
[123]distiguish changed to distinguish
[139]postion changed to position
[191]fellow-ceatures changed to fellow-creatures
[196]immeditatively changed to meditatively
[219]and Tom Tolliver changed to and Tom Tulliver
[267]miscroscope changed to microscope
[314]acquintance changed to acquaintance
[369]round, I take it. changed to round, I take it.”
[407]Goodnature changed to Good-nature
[417]profundly changed to profoundly
[420]Holden ready for the fight: changed to Holden ready for the fight.”
[442]out, answered changed to out,” answered
[468]senora changed to señora
[476]of enchanters. changed to of enchanters.”
[482]Rosinante’s saddle changed to Rocinante’s saddle
[485]Actaeon changed to Actæon
[485]Aeneas changed to Æneas
[485]Aeschyllus changed to Æschylus
[485]Buchephalus changed to Bucephalus
[485]Clavileno changed to Clavileño
[486]Orpheon changed to Orphéon
[486]Pleiadas changed to Pleiades
[486]Quashguamme changed to Quashquamme
[486]Tete changed to Tête

The following words had inconsistent spelling and hyphenation:

daylight / day-light
farmhouse / farm-house
firearms / fire-arms
highborn / high-born
homemade / home-made
lopsided / lop-sided
roadside / road-side
skylark / sky-lark
tipsy cake / tipsy-cake
tomorrow / to-morrow
upstream / up-stream
waterbreaker / water-breaker

Other comments

The footnote referred to by marker number 4 on page 30 was printed on page 31.